People often rely on prepackaged foods for a meal or snack, but eating them sometimes takes considerable effort, especially when multiple food containers are involved. One example is the triangular sandwich container that holds a pair of wedge-shaped sandwich halves behind a hermetic seal; another is a flimsy disposable plastic cup containing foodstuff like pasta salad requiring use of a utensil; third is a bag of chips, etc.; fourth is the common pull-tab aluminum beer can, and fifth is the most common example: a paper beverage (soda) cup with plastic lid and a straw—all which create large quantities of trash. Usually, you must place one container down in order to manipulate the other or its contents, or when the proximity of your neighbors hampers free movement and you can only squeeze food into your mouth. Other times, only a small amount of liquid and edible product is desired to satisfy one's cravings, as is often the case with children, but circumstances or venue often result in very expensive or super-sized options. None in today's marketplace, however, offers a balanced amount of food and drink in an affordable, single-piece disposable apparatus.
Hence, there is a need for a new and novel combination beverage container and storage vessel that holds both a pre-filled consumable liquid whether hot or cold, and, separately, a second product, presumably, but not limited to, foodstuff whether hot or cold or a non-edible item such as a toy or novelty, packaged together in a way which can be held in one hand and be easy to manipulate.
There is also a need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel which has balanced or proportional measures of consumable product in separate chambers or compartments, regardless of whether they are sealed.
There is also a need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel that is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
There is a further need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel that can be manufactured from a variety of different materials into various shapes and sizes.
There is a subsequent need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel that can incorporate variety of openable mouth holes or spouts protected by all kinds of hermetic seals to include peel-off or punch-through materials like foil, metals, perforations, paper, plastics, pop-tops, pull and fold tabs, twist-off caps, threaded nipple and screw cap (commonly referred to as the “re-closable spout”), a swivelable or rotatable closure assembly, a push/pull spout or a folding spout, possibly with a protrusion (such as for mounting of a pull-ring assembly) or without any protrusion (such as for typical foil seal closures).
There is another need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel whose design stimulates mass appeal.
There is also a need for a combination beverage container and storage vessel whose configuration(s) reduce waste.
Another need exists for a combination beverage and storage container that may hold relatively large amounts of beverage and foodstuffs or other items that is not necessarily capable of being hand-held.
The world is full of variants of food carriers and bottles and cans, and manufacturers have been known to affix separate packages onto these containers, such as promotional materials, prize tickets or tests of new flavors of consumables like beer nuts or gum. Further, many examples exist of single-piece or un-openable containers which utilize a double-wall construction technique, usually surrounding an external cavity, whose sole purpose is to benefit from the resulting thermophysical properties of the double wall construction techniques that diminish premature dissipation of a substance's (usually a consumable beverage) temperature residing within said external cavity. Others prefill this void with a non-edible substance for added insulation, again intended to reap the same or greater benefit.
Various embodiments disclosed herein may address one or more of the needs identified above and others. The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate some of the shortcomings present in the field of the invention at the time, and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate various embodiments, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.